Creating a culture of accountability Your biggest customer calls: “I can’t use any of these shirts. They’re all wrong. You’re going to replace them or I’m going to find another shop!" You hang up the phone. Your blood pressure is through the roof. What happened? How did you not find out about it before the customer did? This story hits home with far too many screen printing shops. If this has happened to your shop, what happened next? Did you: Get angry. Slam the phone down and throw an expletive-laden tantrum in front of your staff Assign blame. Call an emergency meeting with all of your department heads and try to figure out who “didn’t do their job” Try to fix the system that broke down. Look at yourself as the primary source of accountability and try to understand what led to letting this issue get to the customer If you said the last one, you’re probably lying – or deluding yourself. The overwhelming majority of print shop owners and managers are prone to the first two reactions: anger and blame-seeking. It’s human instinct! Try Printavo for free: http://www.printavo.com

1. Managing Screen Printers,
Part 1: Accountability
Printavo – Simple, online shop management software
www.printavo.com

2. Introduction
About the author: Matt Marcotte works with T&J Supplies as a
business advocate and sales leader. Matt managed a high-volume
contract production print shop, with national retail clients like Target
and Threadless. Matt's experiences provide valuable insight into
developing management skills under tremendous pressure. He writes,
teaches, builds relationships, and shares knowledge with hundreds of
print shops throughout the midwest. Matt is an advocate for systems-
based solutions that resolve production problems before they start.
You can learn more about him and visit his website at marcotte.ink.

3. Creating a culture of accountability
Your biggest customer calls:
“I can’t use any of these shirts. They’re all wrong. You’re going to replace
them or I’m going to find another shop!"
You hang up the phone. Your blood pressure is through the roof. What
happened? How did you not find out about it before the customer did?

4. Creating a culture of accountability
This story hits home with far too many screen printing shops.
If this has happened to your shop, what happened next? Did you:
• Get angry. Slam the phone down and throw an expletive-laden
tantrum in front of your staff
• Assign blame. Call an emergency meeting with all of your
department heads and try to figure out who “didn’t do their job”
• Try to fix the system that broke down. Look at yourself as the
primary source of accountability and try to understand what led
to letting this issue get to the customer
If you said the last one, you’re probably lying – or deluding yourself. The
overwhelming majority of print shop owners and managers are prone
to the first two reactions: anger and blame-seeking. It’s human instinct!

5. Creating a culture of accountability
Instead of focusing on the single issue at hand, the smartest leaders
will look at the mistake as part of a system. If you leave the system in
place that created the problem, there is a 100% chance that a similar
mistake will happen again.
This is where accountability comes into the picture. Accountability is
about more than assigning blame or rooting out what caused mistakes.
Though one team member may be responsible for a mistake, all parts
of the company are accountable for mistakes. Since your brand and
bottom line suffer when mistakes happen, your entire business is
ultimately accountable for what it manufactures.

6. Creating a culture of accountability
Teaching your team accountability requires two crucial attitudes:
1. Willingness to develop systems for production that encourage
accountability across your entire team.
2. Accepting that your role as a manager or owner is to create systems
for accountability.
As your team’s leader, you create a culture of accountability with your
actions and habits.

7. Accountability starts from the top
of the company
You have to talk the talk and walk the walk, day in and day out. This is
basic leadership: take the wins, own the losses – consistently.
If you’re the first person to take accountability for a product error made
by your team, you demonstrate integrity. This means you take credit for
things that go really well – but you fearlessly tackle errors when they do
occur. But accountability means taking it a step further: you don’t just
fix that error, you fix the process that created the error.
Ownership and accountability means caring about process as much as
you care about outcome.

8. Accountability starts from the top
of the company
It doesn’t mean you never interrogate someone that made a mistake. It
doesn’t mean that everyone in your shop just funnels blame onto you.
It means you find the source of the problem and create systems to
prevent that same problem from recurring.
Setting a high bar for professional accountability starts with constant
improvement. When that big client hangs up the phone, you don’t get
mad or start blaming people. You find a way to improve your printing
process.

9. True accountability is a constant force and
does not play favorites
Yes, it’s inevitable that you will like some employees more than others.
That, too, is human nature. You can’t control that. What you can control
is the system that holds every employee to account. You don’t want
employees in your printing department held to different levels of
accountability for a job than your screen department or your quality
assurance department.
By keeping your employees universally accountable no matter how
much you like them or how valuable they are, you create an open
dialogue around process improvement.

10. True accountability is a constant force and
does not play favorites
You want a culture where openness about the process and candid
truth-telling about production is natural. Employees should feel
comfortable “stopping the line” if problems happen, and shouldn’t feel
like they need to hide from or be afraid of consequences if your
production system breaks down.
You have to remain vigilant in your leadership and accountability. To
develop accountability across departments, keep your communication
clear and your expectations out in the open. Have concrete goals
around spoilage and errors. Develop a documented process for
mistakes that isn’t “getting in trouble” but is instead about “improving
our business.” Revise and update your strategy for accountability early
and often – at least every business quarter.

11. Accountability is not assigned, it is accepted
You do not tell someone they are accountable. You give them the tools
they need to be accountable and successful, then they accept
accountability. Working to empower people to be accountable requires
two strong actions on your part:
1. Clear written expectations about their specific responsibilities.
2. Frequent discussions about whether they have everything they
need to complete their role in the production process.
You can structure this process with two very simple questions. The first
is this: “What is something that went wrong recently?” The second
piggybacks off the first: “What would you need to solve that problem in
the future?” The people on your production floor can answer questions
about process faster than you can – because they live with your process
every day.

12. Accountability is not assigned, it is accepted
You accomplish accountability when your employees are comfortable
showing you small gaps in their knowledge or your process that they’ve
observed. When an employee plays a role in improving your business,
they feel pride and a sense of ownership.
Autonomous, accountable employees naturally seek to improve
production systems. Once an employee accepts accountability, they
become invested in the outcome and contribute their unique
knowledge to resolving problems.

13. Accountability is solutions-oriented, not
problems-oriented
team of unaccountable screen printers will fixate on problems and be
timid about learning – since learning is risky and requires making
mistakes. They are totally fixated on problems and do not try to find
solutions. They are avoidant, stuck in their ways, and afraid of
punishment. They do not have the right resources to solve their
problems and are quick to shift blame to someone else if something
goes wrong. They will say things like:
1. I told you that would happen.
2. Well, I wasn’t trained to do that.
3. That’s not my problem.
4. If the boss finds out about that problem, we are so screwed.

14. Accountability is solutions-oriented, not
problems-oriented
A team of truly accountable screen printing professionals will recognize
mistakes as learning opportunities and move toward creating solutions.
They are not fixated on problems, but are oriented toward finding
solutions. They are creative, curious, and armed with the resources
they need to stop and solve problems as they arise. Accountable teams
say things like:
1. I didn’t know that would happen, but I want to find out why it
did and how to prevent it.
2. I wasn’t trained to do that, but I could learn – or find out who
can help me.
3. That isn’t my problem now – but it could be, so I should learn
how to help.
4. I want the boss to know about this problem so we can find a
way to prevent it.

15. Accountability is solutions-oriented, not
problems-oriented
For a team with accountability, tackling challenges is fun. For a team
without accountability, a problem causes complete paralysis. An
unaccountable team will literally try to hide production mistakes (which
is basically the worst thing that can happen).
When you create clear processes for handling problems and dealing
with issues, as well as solid documentation systems focused on
solutions instead of assigning blame, you will avoid the dreaded
phrases “I told you so,” “I didn’t know,” and “That isn’t my problem.”

16. Structured accountability: constant review
and revision
I ask a lot of print shops that I visit about when they last did employee
check-ins.
Too often, there’s a stammering answer like, “Uh, last year. We’ve been
too busy to stop everything and talk." That's wrong.
It's your job to provide the space and time to optimize your operations.
You can use weekly or bi-weekly check-ins to have a structured
conversation about how well your shop is operating.
• Ask about worker concerns.
• Find problem areas and gaps in your systems.
• Provide support.
• Go to the source and find out the problem.

17. Structured accountability: constant review
and revision
Does your job description hold anyone else accountable beyond you?
(I'm guessing not!) Checking your own quality of leadership with regular
reviews and discussions keeps development and learning on your
mind. If you're constantly improving and always on the lookout for
ways to become better, you're in the right mindset.
Now that we have begun laying the framework for accountability in
your print shop, you can start fine-tuning the specifics you'll need from
each department.